Today (May 27, 2018) is Trinity Sunday on the Church’s ecumenical calendar. God, we believe, has been revealed as a community – in relationship – not as an isolated individual.

Bishop Kallistos Ware of the Eastern Orthodox Church says this: “Belief in a God who is three-in-one, has direct and practical consequences for our Christian attitudes…Each form of community – the family, the school, the workplace, the local church, the city – has as its vocation to become a living icon of the Holy Trinity. [Our goal is] to harmonize diversity and unity, personal freedom and solidarity with others. When as Christians, we fight for justice and for human rights, for a compassionate and caring society, we are acting specifically in the name of the Trinity. Our faith in the God of personal interrelationship commits us to struggle with all our strength against poverty, exploitation, oppression and disease. We combat these things not merely on humanitarian grounds, but precisely because we know that God is three-in-one.”

Think about the implications: The shredding of human dignity – the destruction of civility – the demonization of people different than ourselves;  anything that rips away at the union and harmony of human relationships, rips away at the heart of God. We cannot remain indifferent toward anyone who is outside a healthy, mutually connected community. We cannot be advocates for actions or attitudes that tear relationships apart.

When a country loses 1,500 immigrant children – children – who have been intentionally separated from their parents in order to inflict the most pain possible – we have lost what remains of human compassion – we have lost what it means to be made in God’s image!

There is so much about God we don’t know – so many problems in this world we can’t solve – but we KNOW this: God is revealed as RELATIONSHIP! Each of us, while being our own unique, individual, distinct, free selves are pulled toward the same; to connection, to community. And when we foster family and friendship, and strengthen the ties that bind people together – that’s about as Divine an act as is humanly possible.